U.N. Study Urges Caution on Biofuels

By PETE BROWNE

  A new United Nations study calls for a reconsideration of current biofuels mandates.

The United Nations Environmental Program has added to the growing biofuels debate with the release of a wide ranging assessment of the environmental impacts of crop-based fuels.

The study — the U.N.E.P.'s International Panel for Sustainable Resource Management — called for a reconsideration of current biofuel mandates in order to maintain sustainable levels of demand.

"The report makes it clear that biofuels have a future role, but also underlines that there may be other options for combating climate change that may, or may not involve turning ever more crops and crop wastes into liquid fuels," said Achim Steiner, the executive director of U.N.E.P., in a statement.

The study concluded that whether a biofuel is climate-friendly or not depends largely on whether it is based on crops or production residues. Biofuels of the latter category were generally considered beneficial for the environment, and generating electricity locally from waste materials was found — in mast cases — to be more energy efficient than converting biomass to liquid fuels.

Evidence was also found that land set aside for energy crops could be more efficient if used for solar generation or re-forestation.

"Investments in biofuels by companies could, if allied to boosting crop yields for both food and fuels, have perhaps a positive impact on economies and rural livelihoods," said Nick Nuttall, a U.N.E.P. spokesman, in an e-mail message.

However, he added, though "converting crops into liquid transport fuels can in some circumstances lead to reduced C02 emissions, locating solar panels on that land rather than crops for fuel may be more efficient at converting sunlight to electricity in rural areas than using crops."

Research into the wider life-cycles of biofuels was also called for.

"Growing energy crops can involve increased use of fertilizers which in turn have implications for water quality," said Ernst Ulrich von Weizsäcker, a member of the U.N. panel that authored the study, in a statement accompanying the report's release.

Fertilizer use also increases emissions of nitrous oxide, Mr. von Weizsäcker said, "which is a powerful greenhouse gas in its own right."

Source :  http://greeninc.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/10/22/un-study-urges-caution-on-biofuels/